Large Format Photoshoot 1

The shoot started at 11 in the morning and finished at 12.40 on the 13^th of October. It started off as a cloudy day, but as the day went on it became more and more sunny. I took 4 photographs and tried to get similar lighting in each of the photographs. I used an aperture of 16 so the majority of the photograph would be in focus. The shutter speeds varied quite a bit.

1.      Woodland: 1/8 second aperture 16

a.      

I started off with the woodland stage as it was right when I entered the area. I took a photo in a similar location as the photo to the right seeing as this was my favourite location. The day started off very cloudy and thus there will not be any intricate shadows in the photo. Using the large format camera meant that I was much more concerned with the layout of the photograph and I spent a great deal of time making sure the horizon was in the middle and straight.

2.      Heathland: 1/30 second aperture 16

a.      I looked at the heathland stage next. By the second photo I was a bit more confident of the order of things. Setting up the camera went a lot quicker and I was able to adjust the settings a focus with a lot more assurance. The photo was taken in the same location as the photo to the right, but it was a lot cloudier – adding to the deadpan style of photography.

3.      Chopped: 1/125 second aperture 16

a.      

This is when the weather really started to get quite difficult. It became a lot brighter and there were less clouds in the sky. I tried to take a photo when the sun was covered, but unfortunately, the sky in the photo had a lot more blue in it than I would have liked. This photo was taken in the same place as the photo on the right.

4.      Overgrown: 1/60 second aperture 16

a.      Lastly, I looked at the overgrown area. This was the most difficult as at this point the sky was completely blue. Fortunately, there were two big grey clouds coming past so I measured the exposure with the light meter during the first cloud and took the photo during the second cloud. Obviously I checked the light meter settings again just in case, but there was very limited time to take the photo during the shade. Again the photo was taken in the same place as the photo above.

Testing Stage

I had my second group tutorial yesterday and I showed everything the Doug Aitkens inspired photograph. Although some people liked it in this square format, other suggested that I should make it circular instead. I wasn't too sure about this concept at first because all the edges of the photos are completely different and wouldn't connect together, but I tried it anyway - if only to write in my workbook why it didn't work. 

On the contrary, I love the result! Having it in a circular format emphasizes the cycle of it a lot more, and how it's continuous. You can turn the image any way you want and the sequence would still make sense. I used the same photos I used for the square format so I could easily compare them - but they are also my favourite photos. 

Process:

1. Create the panorama

2. Open it up in photoshop

3. Change the canvas size so that the height and width is the same length

4. Rotate the image by 180 degrees

5. Move the image to the top of the canvas

6. Go to the menu bar and click on filter

7. Scroll down until you see distort and click on polar coordinates

8. A screen with some options will pop up, click ok

9. Wait!

I made two of these panoramas, the first one was very small and was horrible quality (image comparison above). To make it better, I made the canvas size 750x750cm. In the end, the circular panorama was just a bit too big to fit on an A3 sheet of paper. I had a really good response from everyone on facebook, so hopefully the lecturers like it just as must! 

Doug Aitken Inspired

I really like Aitken’s layout of his New Oppositions work. It’s a completely new and interesting approach to landscape photography. A lot of landscape photography is taken in the same deadpan style with a large area and incredibly large prints etc, however Aitken takes it to a whole new level and puts the photos together in one image. His photos are in a cycle – it makes the viewer look at all four photos as one subject. This is similar to my work. I have four photographs and they all result into one statement – succession. However, I was thinking about presenting the four images in a row next to each other, keeping the horizon at the same height in every photo. This way it’s a different kind of cycle.

However, looking at Doug Aitken’s work, I decided to try and recreate his style with my photographs and I love the result! It isn’t perfect as there is a slight white line between the photos where they aren’t completely next to each other, but I love the look of it. I really like the style and how it all works together. These are my 4 favourite photographs and I think they look fantastic like this. I’m considering keeping this style of presenting my work. I think it looks much more interesting.

Doug Aitken

American artist Aitken is probably best known for his work with video, and the characteristics that define that medium are apparent within New Opposition. The photographs do not work as self-sufficient one-off frames but rely on each other for meaning. The optical tricks that the landscapes form when placed together give the impression to the viewer that they are either falling into the centre of the earth of are on top of it looking down as if from the apex of a pyramid. This active involvement by the viewer and the three-dimensional sculptural sensations of the photographs can also be seen in the elaborate installations that often accompany his videos. – Text and images from Susan Bright Art Photography Now

‘The series New Opposition consists of three pieces and was started in 2001. I was interested in the fragmentation of the image. I wanted to formulate an image that was whole but also broken apart. So these are multiple images working as one. I wanted to find a way to blend together different moments in time, different spaces and different locations. I wanted to bring them together in a central unifying image. They are not portraits or cityscapes but more an entropic progression. As the series progresses it becomes increasingly abstracted and denser and you get a sense of motion. The elements in the last image are ones you might just walk past in daily life – there is nothing special about the land. You can imagine someone who is surveying the land taking them. I really like the idea of banality and repetition being used to generate images, which are simple and unobstructed and not captivated by composition.

 The images create a cycle of different places, but they can all be tied together though the central unifying theme of the horizon, which cuts, perpendicular, through them. I was after a three-dimensional quality. Working as well as the ideas of montage and editing, basically filmic concepts, as in repetition. I wanted the eyes to constantly search for the horizon. When the images are brought together they collapse and create a feeling of retreating or expanding.’ – Doug Aitken

Clyde Butcher

Last year I went to Miami with my family and we went on a swamp tour in the Everglades. Normally you aren’t allowed to do this, but every year on labour day weekend Clyde Butcher allows the public to have a swamp tour. Butcher owns a property in the Everglades, which is where his Gallery is. The swamp tour was amazing and I got to see a lot of the everglades no one has ever seen before. After the tour, we went into the gallery which was also a shop and got to see a lot of Clyde Butchers work. Some of his photographs were massive, while other were printed quite small. Clyde Butcher was there himself and signed my book. It was amazing to meet him, he was incredibly kind and had some interesting views on photography (which he also mentions in his book).

The photo to the right is called Tamiami Trail #10 and it’s the first photograph in the book. It reminds me of the heathland stage photographs I have. There is an incredibly far vantage point in the photograph, which shows the massive area Clyde Butcher is taking photographs of. Towards the end of the photograph, you can see the growth of trees, which in my photographs symbolises the next stage of succession. The main difference between this photo and my heathland photos, other than the fact these are black and white, is the height of the horizon. You can see so much of the grassland in this photo, which is why it works. If the horizon was in the centre of the photo, just like in my work, it wouldn’t look as good. The reason, however, why I decided to have the horizon of my photos in the middle is because I’m photographing 4 different stages. If the horizon was at this height for a woodland photo it would look horrible, and you wouldn’t see much of the woodland, just of the ground. 

The photo to the left is called Trout Creek #3. The horizon is a lot more similar to what I have in my photos. Again, it looks quite similar to the heathland stage in my photos. The vantage point is very far away, which is what I want to have in my photographs too. The sky is incredibly dramatic. I have had one shoot where the sky is dramatic, but I wasn’t really the biggest fan of it. For this photo, the dramatic sky works. It looks very menacing, while the landscape is quite simple and beautiful. This could imply that the everglades, or landscapes in general are under a great amount of threat due to human activity as well as natural occurrences (such as succession). 

Peter Lik

“In 2003 I completed the biggest challenge of my life – to shoot a 192-page book on the American Landscape. In order to capture the true essence of this vast country, I needed to visit every state and every landmark, though every season. Fifty thousand miles, a thousand rolls of film and five years of my life later I achieved my goal. It was the journey of a lifetime – the most ambitious project I’ve ever undertaken, and I doubt I’ll ever match my incredible experience."

I have chosen a range of photographs to look at. They aren’t my favourites, but I think they match my project. The photo below is one of the first photos in the book. It’s taken in Utah on Highway 163, leading to Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. I decided to look at this image because of the straight horizontal and vertical lines and how they repeat so many times within the photograph. The horizon is very strong because it is it completely straight, even in a panorama photo. Then there is the vertical line of the road as well as all the rock formations towards the top of the photograph. The majority of the shadows mimic the horizon. Although my location isn’t anywhere near as spectacular as this, I want to create the same geometric style.

The photo below is taken in California, Redwoods – forest giants, Sequoia National Park. As stated earlier, Peter Lik went to every landmark during every season, and this definitely paid off. It is unusual for this much snowfall in California so the fact that Lik captured this is very unique. This photo has a much clearer link to my photography, obviously I’m photographing a woodland. The trees on the right side of the photograph look quite similar to the pine trees in my photographs, they are completely vertical and add to that geometric aspect I want to portray in my photos. The landscape has got a lot more hills in it than I’d like in my photos. Something that is similar to my photos is the sunlight on the trees and the shadows it creates. In my photos I found the sunlight an important aspect because they make the photo so much more interesting; the shadows create these unique shapes, just like the tree trunk on the left page.

I wanted to show the photo below, taken in Arizona in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, to show the amount of colour he uses in his photographs. Although this isn’t something I’m concerned with for this particular project, I want to keep it in mind because this is the kind photographer I want to be.  

The photo below is called Autumn Palette taken in Vermont. Again, the photo is incredibly colourful, which contrasts with the white birch (?) trees. I wanted to specifically look at this photograph because in the area where I am shooting there are also birch trees. However, I don’t feel this would fit in with my project as it is too close up. I like to have a vantage point in my photos, and here it just seems one layer. The photo does however make use of the repetition of the vertical lines.

 The photo below, taken in Virginia called Woodland Mosaic, fits in perfectly with my project. It’s a woodland of what look like birch trees, just like the ones in Horsell Common. There is a bit of a vantage point, however not as far as I’d like it to be. The photo is incredibly bright and colourful which, similar to the photograph above, contrasts with the white of the birch trees. There isn’t any sunshine on the trees, however, because of the colours of the leaves it looks as though the sun is shining. Another reason this photo is similar to the location where I’m shooting is because of the green towards the bottom of the photo. It almost looks like a carpet. A few of the photos I’m particularly interested in regarding the woodland photos have a grassy ground, which kind of reminds me of the photo below.

Five Thinking Hats

Information

·         Subject Matter

o   Succession – how the landscape changes over time in a  natural way

o   Heathland to woodland

o   Horsell Common Preservation Society

o   Trying to bring the heathland back

·         Genre

o   Landscape

o   Deadpan

·         Medium

o   Digital

·         Opportunities

o   Fergus Heron – building contacts

o   Images could be displayed on the Horsell Common Preservation Society website

o   Educational purposes

Emotional Response

·         Like the idea of it being expressionless

·         Trees don’t have an emotional feeling about where they are

·         Not an emotional subject matter (deadpan)

·         Bad to chop down trees

·         Nostalgia

·         Complicated

o   Both good and bad emotions

·         Using a very different visual approach to an emotive subject matter

o   Juxtaposition

o   Clinical -> emotional

·         Interesting

·         Experiment with different mediums

·         Don’t wimp out!

Creative Thinking

·         Record the process of the trees being cut down and heathland growing back

·         Timelapse (box on a stick)

·         Use text to indicate what has happened

·         Shoot from very low perspective (from the roots)

·         Same view point to shoot from over time

·         Print huge, like a forest

·         Go back over time

·         Expand project to look at all different areas

o   Portraits

o   Animals

Critical Analysis

·         10 year project too long for unit

·         You can shoot stages, but not in the same place

·         Weather – might not be able to do deadpan

·         How can you convey subject

·         Address and research the subject matter so you are clear about your viewpoint

·         Consistency

Positive Reflection and Next Stages

·         Weather – shows changing seasons

·         Timelapse (could shoot digital)

·         Man intervening

·         Add text

·         Current project

·         Keep in touch with contenders

·         Edit existing work

·         Shoot some 5x4

·         Shoot some timelapse

Analysis

I found this approach to a group tutorial quite interesting and very useful. I got a lot more ideas and help from this type of tutorial than any other tutorials we’ve had so far. I was quite surprised by the emotional response I got from some of the people. They were quite confused about the whole chopping down the trees subject. I never saw that as anything bad because it is in such a restricted area and they are doing such small areas at a time. Also the woodchips are brought to Slough Power station. The reason the trees are being chopped is to allow the heather to start growing again and rare and endangered species are able to live. The group argued that surely when chopping down the trees you’d be destroying other communities and ecosystems. Although that is true, there is much more woodland in the area that those communities could easily move. Also, because such small areas are chopped at a time, it means that not many ecosystems are destroyed and need relocating.

The point that was risen was that although I want to photograph in a deadpan style of photography – which is emotionless, almost clinical – this subject can conjure up quite a lot of emotion within people. Thus, it makes the project more complicated. The solution to this is that I need to do a lot of research so I’m able to have a clear viewpoint to argue.

When we started to discuss the creative options I could possibly do, a lot of people thought about the idea of a timelapse or shooting in the same area over a period of time. Unfortunately succession is a very long process, and if I were to come back every day for 3 months, there wouldn’t be much change other than the seasons. However, Daniel still suggested that I look into doing a timelapse, because even the change from day to night shows the landscape changing and the process of time..

Other things that were suggested during the creative thinking stage were that I should add text in order to explain the photographs. It was always my plan to add text, because I think just having the photos on the wall won’t make people think about succession. And the size of the prints was also briefly discussed. Deadpan is usually printed off very large, so I’d have to use a medium where I would be able to print them off so big. Lastly Daniel came up with the idea that I could continue this project and look at different areas, such as the volunteers who actually help restore the heathland, as well as animal or insect photos to show the ecosystems within the heather.

The critical analysis was quite easy. It’s a 10 year restoration program, so doing the project for 3 months is nothing really. So I told everyone about my idea of shooting the different stages in different areas, but trying to shoot them in exactly the same style to make it flow. The weather and seasons were also discussed. The reason I started the project so early was because in September the heather is beautiful and purple and the trees have bright green leaves on them, if I went back now it would look completely different.

Lastly we summed up the project and looked at what steps I need to take next. Daniel and Judy were both very insistent on the fact I should shoot medium or large format. I really don’t feel comfortable shooting in either of these formats, but I will give it a go. Daniel will give me a quick workshop on how to use the large format camera and I can take a few photos (only a few because it’s incredibly expensive). I will also shoot a timelapse. Daniel talked about the idea that my project is very current. It’s not been too long that people have been interested in restoring the heathland and going against succession. Not many people know about it so my project would be quite educational. 

Six Thinking Hats

The six thinking hats concept is by Edward De Bono. For this semester we will be using this in order to evaluate each other’s projects. Instead of just saying we like the project, we will be asked to specify exactly why we like them. We have to form a more critical opinion. We will be using five thinking hats though.

1.      Information (white)

a.      The person who’s project it is will provide some information including the subject matter, genre, medium, opportunities and a brief summery

2.      Emotional Response (red)

a.      First people will state their first gut response, whether they like the idea or not and specify why

3.      Creative Thinking (green)

a.      This is where you think in what direction the project could go without having any constraints

4.      Critical Analysis (black)

a.      You discuss the downfalls of the project eg. unethical, too expensive etc

5.      Positive Overview and Next Steps (blue)

                a. A brief summary of all the positive points and what to do for the next tutorial

Mark Edwards

Hursley Hill, 2011

Mark Edwards creatively approaches the subject of English landscape over time, as well as how that landscape has altered both in reality and as an ideal. Edwards, similar to Gainsborough both share the same love of the vernacular landscape and the desire to be immersed within it. Gainsborough’s love for landscape photography was obvious throughout his career, in the same way that Mark Edwards’ love of the genre can be seen through continuous meditation on the landscape of England today.

River Bungay, 2012

Edwards’ photographs, made using maps and detailed research, have more in common with Gainsborough’s works on paper than his paintings. Edwards has to discover his subject-matter rather than create it digitally – the contemporary photographer’s equivalent of Gainsborough’s constructed models. The similarities and differences between two such very different approaches to the landscape are partly the result of historical distance but also the fundamental idea of what art should be: Gainsborough chose to imagine his landscapes using a series of elements which he returned to throughout his life whilst Edwards’ is concerned with truth to nature and his emotional response to that reality. Each of Edwards’ landscapes has a great personal significance, which is intimated but never fully revealed, and which is part of an intellectual and emotional journey.

(http://www.photomonitor.co.uk/2011/12/the-view-from-here-new-landscape-photographs-by-mark-edwards/)

Poringland 2012

Mark Edwards has a specific order for photographing. His work is very time consuming and precise. First he spends hours examining a map of the region to find a place that has a significant meaning. After that he will visit the landscape and do research into the history of the location. He will set up his 8’’x10’’ plate camera and place it on top of a ladder – this way the view is elevated. He uses a long exposure for these photographs to capture the details so he needed a completely windless day, and he usually made his work just after dawn. Edwards work started off with uniform grey skies to make his work clinical, forensic and silent. His newer photographs, however, show a new visual shift. The sky is almost like a painting with blue skies or cloudy skies.

Gainsborough and Edwards both made use of a similar composition where the trees frame the distant city and there would be a scrubby or rocky foreground which leads the viewers eye to a dominant middle ground. There would usually be a misty landscape in the distance.

Edwards’ photographs of the English countryside are taken through a camera lens which mediates the space between the photographer’s eye and his subject-matter. Could Gainsborough’s light-box-like painted transparencies be seen as a kind of proto-photographic impulse? As both artists deliberately immerse themselves in nature, their respective artistic processes simultaneously create a remove: a space within which aesthetic and critical contemplation, and personal reinterpretation takes place. It is interesting to consider what Gainsborough might have done if he had access to a camera.

http://www.photomonitor.co.uk/2011/12/the-view-from-here-new-landscape-photographs-by-mark-edwards/

Advanced Practice Research Lecture

In this lecture we looked into different types or artists books. We started looking at book design. Daniel showed us three quotes about book design, but unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to write them down. The first one was by Sontag in 1977, he said something along the lines of that a book is a medium which suits the photograph very well. Charlotte Cotton, in 2004, said something along the lines of that we expect to see books when you go to a gallery these days.

When you buy a photographers book you almost get the idea of owning the photographs

Book containing a single body of work:

·         The Americans – Robert Frank

o   Each spread has a single photo

o   All photos are to the right of the page

o   This way you view the images as a singular image not as a sequence

o   Simple grid and layout

o   Portrait style photos are centred

o   Landscape style photos are centred and slightly raised

o   Folio numbers are opposite of images

§  On the ‘though’ line of the page (grid)

o   Accompanying text is at the back

·         Public Relations – Gary

o   Double page images

o   Captions under pictures

§  No referencing at the back

o   Simple layout – grid

o   Interaction between text and photo on back page

o   No need for folio numbers

·         Typology – Becker

o   Simple layout

o   Text on the left page and photo on the right page

o   Folio number in line with the grid

·         Signs – Peter Graseman

o   ‘Grubby’ front

o   Detailed inside

o   Introduction has a different format and different paper to the photo pages

o   Images are on a square format

o   Photos are all on the right

o   Fold-out pages – three square images

o   Back has thumbnails as well as folio numbers

·         A play of Selves – Cindy Sherman

o   Different colour and texture of the paper

o   The paper is a warmer tone whereas the photos on the paper are a very cold tone of black and white

o   Photos of herself – made into a play

We also looked at Jim Goldberg Raised by Wolves, The Silence by Gilles Peress, Nudes by Thomas Ruff, Nudi, Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth. Unfortunately we went quite quick through the lecture so my notes failed me.

  

Books containing different bodies of work:

o   Jeurgen Teller 1996

o   Experiments with lots of books and different styles of book making

o   Photo of the photographer on the front inside cover

o   Photo of a model on the inside cover in the back of the book

o   Different range of work mixed together

o   Use of double pages for juxtaposition

o   Snapshot style photos alongside fashion campaigns

o   Richard Avedon Portraits

o   Book to accompany exhibitions

o   Comes in a box cover

o   Shot on 10x8 format and the book is the same size

o   Unfold pages to show a whole range of portraits

§  Exhibition in a book

o   Half of the book has got portraits, the other half has exhibition essays and pictures alongside write ups of work

o   Damien Hurst

o   A graphic designer created the book for him

o   Very interactive book

o   Very child-like book with pull flaps etc

o   Dark work within the book

o   ‘laughing in the face of death’

We also looked at Terry World, Helmut Newton, Start Twins, Aftermath by Sophie Ristelhuber, Auto Portraits by Martin Parr, See What I’m Looking At, Au Gallop, Uncovered by Thomas Allen, Baghdad Calling by Geert van Kesteren and Japan by Sophie Calle. Unfortunately we went quite quick through the lecture so my notes failed me. 

In The Best Possible Taste - Grayson Perry

For this lecture we had to watch three episodes of In The Best Possible Taste by Grayson Perry on 4OD. The program was about the artist Grayson Perry and the journey he took in order to create 6 large tapestries. In each episode he looked at a different ‘class’ in England – in the first episode he looked at the working class, in the second he looked at middle class and in the final one he looked at upper class people. He spent time getting to know the people as well as the places where they lived. Through this analysis he was able to create his final art piece. Perry looked specifically into the ‘taste’ of people in these different social classes. The reason that he wanted to create tapestries is because in the 17^th century they were only filled with noble people or people of great importance. He is contradicting this idea by making tapestries of normal everyday situations ‘whether they shop at Waitrose or Ikea” (Grayson Perry). Perry’s inspiration in William Hogarth, an 18^th Century painter.

Over the past three weeks, Britain’s most-famous transvestite potter has been exploring the taste of the country’s different social classes, before turning his findings into a series of tapestries. But when I say “exploring”, I don’t mean it in the traditional television sense of “making a few generalisations that he knows we all agree with anyway”. Instead, Perry gives every impression of thinking carefully about what he sees – even to the point of changing the opinions he started out with. More controversially still, he seems to be trying to understand people different from himself, rather than simply sneering at them.

(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9341781/All-in-the-Best-Possible-Taste-with-Grayson-Perry-Channel-4-review.html)

The three part documentary was incredibly interesting. I didn’t think I was going to like it at first, and was very hesitant about watching it, but when I started the first episode the thing that stood out to me most was the way he did his research. Instead of going to the library and reading books or going on the laptop and searching for answers online he actually met people from each of the social classes and analysed their lives. He photographed their belongings and asked them intuitive questions. He was incredibly perceptive. To see how his experiences turned into a tapestry was also very fascinating to see. You could identify the things he learnt within the tapestries.

In this lecture we had a bit of a debate about the program. A few people argued that which social class you’re in doesn’t actually matter than much because people aren’t too fussed about social classes anymore, while other argued that it’s the completely opposite. The people in Sunderland were incredibly proud of their working class label. Class is something not many people talk about or find it quite an awkward conversation.

Although I found the documentary interesting, I do have a few reservations about the program. It seemed as though Perry went to see people that were a certain type within the social classes. According to the program I wouldn’t fit into any of these classes, nor would my family. Another thing I found was a bit disappointing is the fact that the tapestries were too literal. They showed exactly what we saw in the documentary, there was nothing abstract about it – it was too concrete.